Gifting More Than $14,000 To Anyone I Want

You can give gifts of $14,000 (referred to as the annual gift tax exclusion) or less per calendar year to each of as many individuals as you want without filing a gift tax return. Unlimited gifts can be made to a spouse without gift tax consequences. The annual Gift Tax exclusion is indexed annually, which means that you can gift larger amounts in your life without Gift Tax concerns.

Gifts over $14,000 are considered taxable gifts and must be reported on an annual gift tax return, Form 709. Though you must file, you do not have to worry about paying the federal Gift Tax because you can offset the tax by using the unified gift and estate tax exemption. Any federal gift tax assessed on your lifetime gifts will be tallied and subtracted from the combined unified gift and estate tax exemption after you die. The combined unified gift and estate tax exemption for 2017 is $5.49 million (up slightly from $5.45 million in 2016).